[English translation made from a French translation of a Coptic
Gnostic MS in Carl Riedmen's private collection. --E.M.]
The One who exists before all, the Father, on whom
none can look, of Him we know through the One sent us. For from the Father the Aeons were
brought forth in perfection, and in Him their strength is grounded. From Him the Aeons extended through
Chaos, testing all its darkness against their perfection.
And the Aeons extended
into the darkness. Enfolded in
Chaos they enfolded it; they articulated; they embraced. And the darkness did retreat before
them, for in perfection they reached forth, for they are perfect like the One.
And the Aeons reached forth in pairs of male and female: each male
with its female consort, each female with its male consort. In pairs did the Father bring them
forth. And the Chaos retreated
before them.
One of them is called Sophia: she is an Aeon of the Father. And she comes forth from the
Father. Like the Father she is
perfect and extends in her strength.
And it happened once that Sophia met with a disjunction in the
darkness of Chaos. The disjunction
was small, and the darkness retreated before her. But it was a disjunction in the fabric Sophia embraced; a
flaw embracing her as she embraced it.
Through the smallness of the flaw Sophia at first felt no
difference. She occupied it as if
it were like all of Chaos: only darkness in retreat from her perfection.
But before Sophia knew, she had thought a new thought. She had conceived a desire to emanate a
being from herself, an emanation of her own, the rule of her own perfection
against Chaos.
Sophia did not know the newness of her thought: that it was a
thought entirely unknown.
Sophia's desire and power were such that once the thought came
forth it was embodied. Having
thought the thought, she felt a being already there beside her, an being that
had never been known. Sophia looked
upon the new being and saw its form.
She retreated in horror.
And before the being could turn to her, she separated it from herself
with a vast curtain of darkness.
But the being had already taken some of her power into it.
And it turned in its darkness, hovering about in the space of its
conception. And in its darkness it
saw itself. Though descended from
its mother's perfection, it had been conceived obliviously: a conception that
had never been known.
"I am," it said.
And in the darkness about it the being's knowledge was flawed, and
it saw only the darkness and felt only its own power therein. And he had no knowledge of his origin
and conceived that he must always have been, for there seemed to be none other
in the eternal darkness where he found himself.
"I am the All," he said.
And he is Yaldabaoth.
And Yaldabaoth felt the power of his greatness against the
darkness, and in his greatness he called forth light from himself. And calling it forth the light was
there, and Yaldabaoth separated the light from the darkness.
And he saw that it was good.
But his greatness was not fulfilled by this. So on the second day of his being he
called forth [. . .]
[From a later section of the text:]
"[. . .] where they
still remain."
And Sophia said: "The
sparks of the divine that he has breathed into the humans shall escape from his
flawed creation. They shall return
to us in the Pleroma."
And Epinoia said: "It
is decided that we must bring this about through a Messenger to them. The Messenger shall pass by the Archons
without their notice and awaken the knowledge in humans of their home. But who shall go down?"
And Sophia said: "The
Messenger will come forth from the Father. He shall go down, passing by the Archons' snares. And through him knowledge will be given
sufficient to wake them. Once the
sparks are awoken the Archons shall have no power over them. And as the sparks escape, Yaldabaoth
shall be without power."
And Epinoia said: "The
Messenger shall come forth to go down.
Through his message they will know the distance that holds them from the
Pleroma."
And Sophia said: "When
Yaldabaoth will recognize that [. . . ]"
[From a later section of
the text:]
[. . .] the child of Sophia
and a flaw; born obliviously and wrapped in darkness [. . .]
For the embrace does extend
across the flaw, and the sparks in the humans [. . .]
[From a later section of
the text:]
[. . .] have come to you
for this reason. And I have
conquered death utterly and shall bring knowledge of it to the One who sent me. And to you I have brought knowledge of
Him and of your origin in Him, so that you, now in this realm of darkness, can
achieve resurrection in this life and so heal the wound in the Entirety. For in knowledge and perseverance the
flaw will be known in its darkness even as you realize yourselves as children
of the light. To know what in you
is [. . .]
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